The joint program of the French Institute in Russia and the International Center for Pedagogical Research in the city of Sevres provides an opportunity for Russian students to work in secondary schools in France as Russian language teacher assistants. In May 2019, Ms. Olga Skvortsova, a 5th year student specializing in teaching English and French, became the winner of the All-Russian competition of Russian language teacher assistants.
At the present moment, she successfully teaches Russian at the College of Grenoble and shares her impressions with us:
“I was supposed to start a new school year in Grenoble. This is an amazing city located in the south-east of France. It is a large industrial, scientific and academic center of the French Alps.
I was assigned to the Collège Aimé Césaire High School to teach Russian to 6-3 grades students. According to the French education system, these are 11-15 years old children. At the first meeting all students were really interested in the Russian language and life in Russia.Cultural aspect is one of the most important parts of the studying process. Therefore, from the very beginning we started deepening ourselves not only in the Russian-speaking environment, but also began studying Russian traditions and history. Many of my students have been already familiar with the Russian language; they have relatives in Russia and speak good Russian. Others started learning everything from the very beginning, but they have already made great progress. Everyone is trying to do their best! I was glad to tell them about Nizhny Novgorod, my native places and other famous cities of Russia. And I was extremely happy to see interest in their eyes.
The whole educational process is realized in French and I was pleased that many of my colleagues noted my high level of French. Studying French at Minin University allowed me to successfully blend into academic environment of the school, quickly navigate through the city (read information in museums, understand the contents of announcements) and easily understand French by ear. I would like to give a piece of advice to all students studying the French language: you must regularly and persistently practice all types of speech activity, read as many authentic texts as possible and do a lot of listening. It’s very important to be hardworking in studying languages. And you will succeed!
In conclusion, I would like to express gratitude to my teacher, associate professor of the Foreign Language and Professional Communication Department, Ms. Efremova N.N. for the high level of training. Studying at Minin University was one of the most important periods in my life. ”
